Fish Out of Water
by Mi Ling Chi
Summary: With an IQ of 144 and the intellectual drive, Rin had managed to skip three years of school and was sixteen upon entering Kyoto University, one of the most prestigious schools in Japan. Now all she had to do was ace school and survive the social part of college with people two to three years her senior and she was home free.
1. Accepted

**Fish Out of Water  
by Mi Ling Chi**

She had been accepted.

The corners of Rin's lips turned upwards in excitement. She had been accepted to one of the most prestigious colleges in all of Japan: Kyoto University. Talk about one of the most gratifying moments in the sixteen-year-old orphan's life. Sixteen years old, brilliant with an IQ score of one-hundred forty-four, and now a to-be student at Kyoto University.

She had skipped three school years because of how smart she was. A genius, obvious from age five, there was nothing that she didn't understand. Still, somehow she was surprised that Kyoto U had accepted her. Perhaps that was just because of her humble nature.

Rin placed the letter down on her kitchen counter, a giant grin plastered on her face. She was so happy, so excited that she could dance. Hell, she walked over to the stereo that one of her friends had got her for her fourteenth birthday, flicked it on, and started dancing to some cheesy J-pop number.

This was the best day of her life. Sixteen, a to-be student at Kyoto U, and a genius. What else could she ask for?

The rest of her day was spent in excitement. Calling up her friends and gushing to them about the news, buying a train ticket to Kyoto, reading and re-reading the letter of acceptance and the letter stating the approval for her scholarship, thinking about where she was going to stay and dreaming of all the older college guys that she would hopefully lose her virginity to.

And when Rin's head hit the pillow that evening, everything seemed right with the world for once. She was happy, lucky, and uber-excited. The future looked bright and inviting. New friends, romance, school, and even a little drama. A smile resided on her face when she slept.

**AN:** A SessRin drabble series of 300 hundred words that will be updated every other day? And it's by Mi Ling Chi? Either this is a miracle or the sign of the apocalypse. Sarcasm aside, thanks for reading and please tell me what you think in a review!


	2. Dorm

Rin sucked on the little hard candy as she stared at the door to her knew dorm room. As she knew that she wouldn't be able to afford an actual apartment on her own, and anyway she just wanted to be as close to Kyoto U as she could be at all times, Rin had decided that a dorm room would be her best option for housing.

And anyhow, she wanted the college experience. The roommate, the neighbor who was having sex all night long, the wild, drunken parties across the hall, the screaming echoing from the lounge during a big game. She wanted it all, and living in a dorm would provide that for her.

She slid the key into the lock and lightly pushed the door open. Inside were two beds and a very undecorated room. It appeared to Rin that her roommate hadn't shown up yet. She broke out into a giant grin as she pulled her luggage into the room, walking over towards the left side of the room. Rin had always shown a preference for anything on the left, perhaps stemming from the fact she was left handed.

Sitting down on the bed, she eyed her luggage like it was about to bite her. It was going to be a monster to unpack.

Suddenly the door was thrown open, snapping Rin away from her dread filled thoughts. In it stood a woman who appeared a couple years older than Rin.

"Hey-o! I'm Kagome and I am your roommate," she said giddily, pulling in her massive suitcase and heading towards the right side of the room. She dropped the bags and turned to face Rin, hands on her hips and a bright smile on her face that quickly faltered.

"Aren't you a little young little girl?"

**AN: **Okay, I lied. Daily updates! Please review!


	3. Fourteen

Rin's cheeks were tomato red.

"I- Uh, I skipped three years of school," Rin stuttered. She had feared that her roommate would react in the same manner as Kagome had and now Rin wanted to bury her head in shame. She had already gotten off on a terrible foot with her roommate and Kagome hadn't even been in the room a full minute.

"Oh," Kagome gasped before nodding. Her smile returned and suddenly it seemed as if nothing was wrong. Rin was a little taken aback by the emotional whiplash. "Sorry, that didn't even cross my mind. You just look like a fourteen year old girl so I thought maybe you were a little sister or something."

Rin buried her head in hands, grumbling the following: "Sixteen actually". Rin was embarrassed that she had been mistaken as a fourteen year old. Oh she could already tell that this was going to be a terrible year.

"Well, I've already told you my name and now I know your age so let me say that I am nineteen years old, I am majoring in History while minoring in Religion, I'm still dating my high-school sweetheart Inuyasha, and I grew up on a Shinto shrine. Your turn." Kagome sat down on her bed, staring expectantly at Rin.

"My name is Rin, majoring in mathematics and minoring in business, I have never had a boyfriend and I am a virgin, I have an IQ of one-hundred forty-four and am here on a scholarship, and I'm an orphan." Her cheeks were red again once she had finished sharing, getting that way after Kagome had burst out laughing over her virginal declaration.

Rin had to wonder if the world hated her but then she had to remember her IQ and where she was at that moment.

**AN:** In response to MerryMary: my research pulled up that an IQ of 100 is average, however, you would be surprised by how little there is to research on the internet about this. The reason I put her at 144 is because it is far above average. Still, things might have changed from your Grandfather's time as I would say that our population is getting increasingly stupid. -_- Anyways, that's to answer your question.

**Please review!**


	4. Knowledge

Both girls unpacked, Rin learning that despite the fact in high-school, middle-school, and even elementary school she was known as the most talkative person, Kagome could talk miles around the sixteen year old. The older girl yapped on and on about her friends, her past, Inuyasha in particular, and everything she could think about. By the time that someone texted Kagome, Rin knew all about Kagome's family, knew that names of each one of Kagome's friends by heart, knew every reason she loved Inuyasha and every gift that Inuyasha had gotten her, knew all about her reasons for her major, and so on and so forth.

By the time Kagome was busy tapping away at her smartphone a reply text, Rin felt like she had just listened to the most detailed autobiography ever.

Rin laid sprawled out on her bed, hand covering her eyes as she took deep breaths, feeling like she was suffocating in all the information Kagome had unloaded on her. Thoughts swam in her mind about Kagome's life and Rin was starting to feel like she had lived every minute of her roommate's life.

Sure, Rin had wanted the college experience and wanted to be like sisters with her roommate but the level of closeness Kagome had dumped on the sixteen year old was nuts.

"Alright Rin, so we are going down to the lounge and we are going to get you introduced to Ayame and Sango and then we're all going to go over to Inuyasha's later tonight and celebrate hard, meaning that we are all going to drink like we're legal. Got that?"

Rin shot Kagome a glare but the older girl just laughed.

"C'mon, it's not that bad. I promise that we won't give you anything too hard at the party if you're worried."

**AN: **Sesshomaru is coming soon, I swear. **Please review!**


	5. Party

The day went by quickly for Rin, and she actually found herself having a lot of fun with the girls. Quickly she found herself calling them pals and chums. They were nice, not superficial like some of the girls she'd known in life. They were friendly and open, talking and laughing with her from the very beginning as if they'd known her all her life.

Still, she wasn't exactly sure she could call it the best day of her life when they pushed her through the door of the frat house that Inuyasha, Miroku (Sango's boyfriend), Koga (Ayame's boyfriend), Hojo, Shippo, Kohaku, and Sesshōmaru lived in.

Inuyasha was instantly there to greet his girlfriend, Miroku not far behind to greet all of the girls and give out the lecherous gropes he was infamous for. Koga was in the living room screaming at a Halo match he was losing, a couple of empty beer bottles by his feet. Hojo, Kohaku, and Shippo were playing poker in the dining room.

"You guys started drinking without us," Kagome wined, giving a glare to her boyfriend and sticking her tongue out at him. Ayame found her way to Koga pretty quickly and Miroku was already sporting a red mark on his cheek as he tried to apologize to Sango who was ignoring him, chanting Koga on.

Rin felt incredibly out of place. She was sixteen years old, four years below the drinking age, not a measly one like the rest of them. She also had only known the girls for a day, and the guys for five minutes.

She found herself climbing the stairs pretty quickly, trying to get away from the noise and the booze. Perhaps she wasn't quite ready yet for the partying, she decided, as she sat down on a bed.

**AN: **The legal drinking age in Japan is 20, and everyone besides Rin and Sesshomaru are 19. Sesshomaru's 20, Rin 16. Just a quick age guide for all you lovely folks. Thanks for the review, favorites, and follows. **Please review!** I love to hear my reader's thoughts


	6. Meeting

"Why is there a child on my bed?" came an irritated male voice. Instantly Rin's head shot up, her cheeks bright pink upon noting the male presence in the room. Her blush deepened as she noted the wet, silver hair plastered against the man's pale, perfectly muscled chest, and the fact that a pair of boxers were the only thing that kept him from being completely nude.

She jumped to her feet, stuttering out an apology and bowing deeply to him. She was mortified that she hadn't even thought that someone might come into the room because it was their room.

"Avoiding the party?" he asked, making his way over to a dresser. She awkwardly shifted her weight as she nodded. Realizing that his back was turned, she spoke up in embarrassment.

"Yeah. Not particularly what I was thinking. When they said they were getting wasted, I really didn't realize how wasted they were getting. It's not like I'm legal to drink so that also makes it kind of awkward to, not that any of them are either," she rambled. While she had rambled, he'd pulled on plaid pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. Turning to face her, she saw that one of his perfect silver eyebrows was arched.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen, I skipped three years of school because of how intelligent I am." Rin shifted her weight again.

"IQ?" he asked. She was a little taken aback by the question but answered, proud of the number.

"One-hundred forty-four."

"One-hundred seventy-three," he said. She gawked at him, her mouth parted into a little o. She had never met someone with a higher IQ than herself.

"That's amazing."

"I didn't skip any grades though, parents were traditional. I am Sesshōmaru. You?"

She giggled. "I'm Rin. Nice to meet you."

**AN: **So here is Sesshomaru. Did ya' miss him? Anyway, **please review** and thank you for all your reviews so far!


	7. Drunk

"Major?" he asked, placing the saucer of saké that he'd swiped from the kitchen to his lips and tilting it back.

"Mathematics, minor in business," she said, her face a light shade of pink. The jug of saké they had also swipe rested in her hands, and when he brought the saucer back down, she filled it back up before taking a sip from the jug.

"I am majoring in mathematics as well, though my minor is in art."

She gasped, honestly surprised that the stoic, handsome male would minor in something so romantic. She batted her eyes at him, the corners of her lips tugged upwards as she awed at his minor. Honestly, the sixteen year old would not mind participating in a couple of steamy, and probably illegal, actions with him. Of the men she'd met so far, he was certainly at the top of her list of suitors to pop her damned cherry.

She was so drunk.

She giggled, gulping some more saké down. He took the jug from her hands, setting it on the bedside table as her gave her a stern, disapproving look.

"Enough. Little girls shouldn't drink, it's bad for their brains."

She playfully shot him a glare but didn't push, instead choosing to collapse back onto his bed.

"Freshman correct?" Rin nodded. "So am I," Sesshōmaru continued. "I took a break from my studies for a year to travel. I suppose I shall be seeing you around then, neh?" She nodded again, nuzzling the soft fabric of his quilt and not paying much attention to his words. For some reason, Rin felt sleepy.

Rolling his eyes, Sesshōmaru grab the book of his bedside table and kept quiet, allowing Rin to fall asleep on his bed. She dozed, and he read, the silence nice.

**AN: **Updates are returning. Sorry 'bout the break. Please review.


	8. First Class

She was shaking as she entered the class room to her first course. Tons of students were filing in, all of them taller and far more adult looking than her. As Kagome had said the moment she had seen Rin, Rin looked like a fourteen year old, not a sixteen year old or god forbid, an eighteen year old. She felt like a mouse among cats as she entered.

She scanned the classroom, looking for anyone she recognized. Sesshōmaru was at the very back, sitting next to a tall, very beautiful woman who was smirking as she made conversation with him.

_Oh, he has a girlfriend,_ she thought. She felt kind of awkward as the thought infiltrated her head. She had gotten drunk with Sesshōmaru the night before (something she was still recovering from), and taken a nap on his bed, dreaming about losing her virginity to the silver-haired god, and he had a girlfriend.

Still, she didn't see anyone else she knew so she approached them. She was too awkward to sit right next to them though, so she found herself sitting right in front of him, her head bent so that she was staring at the blank notebook in front of her.

"So Nozomi-san or Kiko-san?" she asked. Rin was embarrassed about listening in but listened anyways.

"Two things Kagura. First, I understand not your decision to pair me with a female. Secondly, I'd much rather date the sixteen year old sitting in front of me pretending as if I haven't noticed her than either of them."

Rin's cheeks heated to a blinding shade of red as her forehead made a smack against her notebook. She could feel the stares of Sesshōmaru and Kagura in the back of her skull.

Oh how Rin wished she didn't exist then.


	9. Pedophilia Jokes

Kagura laughed. Rin blushed. Sesshōmaru appeared bored, disinterested in what was going on between the two females.

"So Sesshōmaru," Kagura began, "I was unaware that my best friend since third grade was a pedophile. Did this develop while you were in Bangkok, North Korea, or China?" Rin's embarrassment nearly forgotten, she turned around in her seat, curious about what his sarcastic remark would be.

"I am not a pedophile. Simply because China's age of consent in fourteen, North Korea's fifteen, and Thailand's is technically fifteen does not mean I have decided the girls four to six years younger than I am are sexually attractive. Rin is just smarter than you Kagura."

Kagura laughed again, Sesshōmaru drumming his fingers on his desk. Rin bit her lip as she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's just Sesshōmaru's turn on," she said to Rin. "They've got to be smart and if they're not, they're getting nowhere near Sesshōmaru's room. IQ above one hundred forty typically does it for him."

Before Rin could reply, perhaps proudly boasting her own IQ, the teacher stepped in to start the lesson. Rin paid attention intently, despite the tapping of pencils on paper and desks or the drumming of fingers against wood. Sesshōmaru and her were the ones that always knew the answers, picked everything up quickly, and when they compared notes in the next class, the ones who took more notes.

"Rin, I don't know about you but I'm hungry. Have any classes after this one?" Kagura said as they exited the classroom. Sesshōmaru had stayed behind to ask the teacher a question, leaving Kagura to trap the little girl into talking to her.

"Yeah I do actually." She named her next class and Kagura just shook her head.

"Have fun with Sesshōmaru, you both have that class."

**AN:** Thanks for the reviews. I hoped you like this chapter. Please tell me your opinions of this chapter... man I need some taiyaki.


	10. Not of Age

Class went by nicely, Rin only having two more after the two she had shared with Sesshōmaru, both this time Sesshōmaru-less. She didn't mind. Sure, having a handsome friend to sit next to throughout classes were nice but she didn't want to constantly be with him. She didn't want to look clingy… or taken.

Now she laid on her bed, her palm resting in her hand as she read through the text book lazily. She had to read a couple chapters for Japanese History, a class she shared with Kagome, by Friday because of some test they were going to have.

Speaking of Kagome, Rin had no clue where her older roommate was. Rin could only assume that she was off making out with Inuyasha.

Sure, Rin did have boyfriends and virginity and kissing on the brain. She was a the age of a high school girl though, she had every right to be obsessed with stuff like that. Also, and however much she hated to admit it, she did want to have a little bit of a normal life. Going to college when you were sixteen, hanging out with people much older than you, and studying constantly didn't really lead her to being the most normal, or social, of teenagers.

The door slammed open, jerking Rin from her thoughts as Kagome walked in, shopping bags in hand.

Rin rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Kagome said as she dropped her bags on her bed. "I forget to go over a couple of ground rules. No sex or booze in the dorm room, kay? And especially for you, no drinking anything stronger than saké or beer, whichever is heavier. And no sex with seniors, got it?"

Rin just narrowed her eyes.

"Understood, pervert-san. I'm sixteen, not even legally of age to consent."

**AN: **Though in Japan the age of consent is 13, most prefectures bump it up to 18 like Tokyo does. They're in Kyoto, another large city, so I assume that it's 18 there to, though research is very limited. I spent an hour trying to find the actual age of consent for Kyoto but couldn't, so let's just go with Tokyo's right now. Alright, please review!


	11. Studying Habits

That night was spent doing homework, which Rin found really fun. She got hers done pretty quickly and ended up helping Kagome because the older girl just wasn't really getting what she was reading.

"So are you often this confused?" Rin asked as she played with the cap on a high-lighter.

"Yeah. Most of us are. We'd always go to Sesshōmaru for help with school and he would always begrudgingly help us while degrading us and calling us stupid. Bu−" Kagome trailed off when she saw the look of astonishment that Rin was giving her. "Yeah, Sesshōmaru's an ass, so? Anyways, he would help us and we would get good grades. Last year, a really smart girl transferred into our grade so everyone went to her because Sesshōmaru had already graduated and was off seeing the world. She ended up going to college in France of all places."

With a look that said Kagome was crazy, Rin shook her head. "At least I won't call you stupid, though I will note that you are awfully bad at studying."

"Sorry, I'm a partier not student. Why else do you think Inuyasha's going for a degree in communications? None of us like school."

Rin found herself shaking her head again, just as she was seemingly doing anytime she heard about her new friends. A degree in communications? Suddenly the sixteen year old had lost all respect for her roommate's boyfriend.

"Speaking of my boyfriend, what's going on with the rumor-mill? Someone was going on about how Sesshōmaru had become a pedophile. I heard from someone he was dating a sixteen year old because she was smarter than him." The grin on Kagome's face made Rin blush as she hid her head in her hands.

"Kagura and him were talking about him dating."

**AN:** Thank your for the reviews last chapter! Please review again.


	12. Threats

"So let me get this straight. You met Sesshōmaru when we were partying, got drunk with him on saké, and then you fell asleep in his bed? How the hell did you get home then?"

Rin sighed. This was the fifth time she'd had to answer questions as she relayed her story of meeting Sesshōmaru to her roommate.

"I walked home around two in the morning. You were busy with Inuyasha evidently because I haven't seen you since the party." Rin gave her friend a knowing smirk as she blushed heavily. "Anyways, continuing on…" she continued on to tell her friend about her classes and her interactions with Sesshōmaru that day, even giving Kagome the specific quote of what he had said to Kagura to give anyone the idea he was dating a girl four years his junior who was also under age in the Kyoto prefecture.

"Hey, do you have Sesshōmaru's number?" Kagome asked Rin, her hand holding up her head as they laid on her bed.

Rin nodded.

"Great! Give me your phone."

Before Rin could even protest, Kagome had swiped her phone from her and was waiting for Sesshōmaru to pick. Rin stared out her roommate, her mouth agape in shock. She was curious though so she didn't stop her.

"Hey Sesshōmaru," Kagome said before the male on the other end could even answer. "You better not be getting any bright ideas about Rin. You're so much older than her. If I find out that you too are doing anything than you're never having any children. Alright, bye!" Kagome ended the call and gave Rin back her phone, a smile on her face that made Rin cringe.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Rin said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Kagome nodded and smiled.

**AN:** Thank you for the reviews! Please review again.


	13. Tuesday

Sitting down at a desk in her English Lit class on Tuesday, Rin scribbled down note as the teacher talked. She could hear the people around her passing notes and kicking the backs of seats. More than once did she hear an ouch but honestly, Rin could not care less. As long as they weren't bothering her, she didn't care.

She had class with Sango today, though Sango was not sitting with her but with a couple of people from her kung-fu classes she took on the weekend. It didn't bother Rin, she hardly knew the older woman so it wasn't as if they were obligated to sit next to each other.

Scribbling down something, she felt a foot come to land on her shoulder. She bit back a small oomf as she glared at the offending limb. Her eyes travelling up the leg clad in baggy jeans, on the other end she saw a large looking man with a smirk on his face. Winking at her, a perverse smile crossed his lips.

Quickly she raised her hand.

"I had a question," she said once the teacher had called on her. The foot quickly removed itself and class went by relatively easy, the guy behind her learning the hard way that Rin wasn't to be messed with. She might've not had the physical strength to force his foot off or the appearance to scare him away; she did know how to get what she wanted.

"Bitch," she heard a person whisper as she passed by. She looked around but could not tell who it came from. Brushing it off as if it were nothing, she shifted her binder in her hands and ran off to meet with Kagome. They were going to have some tea and chat about girl things.

**AN: **Thank you for the reviews, please review again!


	14. New Friend

After meeting with Kagome, Rin had run into Kagura on her way back to the dorm. When Kagura said hi, Kagome quickly ditched the sixteen year old, leaving Rin in the hands of Sesshōmaru's closet friend.

She now sat at a table in fast food restaurant, WacDonald's actually, with paper cup of steaming black coffee and chocolate chip cookie that was harder than hockey puck in front of her. Kagura sat across from her, chowing down on her second cheeseburger, and taking sips of the soft drink she'd gotten. Rin sighed, shaking her head.

"You know, I only decided to major in mathematics because Sesshōmaru said he was going to," Kagura said, shoving a fry past her lips. "I decided that junior year because Sesshōmaru said he was going to and he was a senior. Back then I had a crush on him."

The comment from Monday's class instantly filtered into Rin's head. _"…Secondly, I'd much rather date the sixteen year old sitting in front of me pretending as if I haven't noticed her than either of them."_ All of a sudden Rin felt guilty as she looked down at her food sheepishly.

"Don't worry, I'm over him. Back then I was confused, and because I'd known Sesshōmaru the longest, he was my go to friend so I thought I loved him. I'm gay though."

Rin's head instantly shot up as she stared at Kagura like she'd sprouted a second head. That had been rather blunt, especially towards a person who'd never really been around those that weren't straight.

Then Rin laughed. Whatever, Kagura liked chicks, so what? It didn't matter to her, it didn't affect her so there wasn't really anything wrong. Sure, Rin would always swing straight but whatever floats your boat, floats your boat.

"Good for you."

**AN: **What are your thoughts?


	15. Ex-Girlfriends

**AN: **Regarding the contents of the last chapter and the response, let me make this clear. Kagura does not like Rin romantically. Does that mean she might in the future? Maybe, but she certainly didn't last chapter.

The moment Rin walked through her door, ready to throw down her book bag and flop onto her bed, she found Kagome pulling on a very short, very clingy, and extremely revealing dress. Stopping in the door, she just stared incredulously at her friend. This could not be happening. They had partied mere days ago! No, Rin would not believe what she was seeing.

"The boys are throwing a party," Kagome finally said as she down at her desk, pulled out a mirror, and began to apply make-up. "Put something on, you were invited too."

Rin was surprised by her friend's curt words, and harsh tone.

"Who made you angry?"

Kagome sighed, rifling through her lipstick choices. She could tell something had happened, probably with Inuyasha since a frown had marred the older girl's face when she mentioned the boys. What had the idiot done?

"I just found out that Kikyo is also going to school here. Kikyo's his ex."

Rin nodded, biting her lip as she tried to find something decent to wear at a frat party. Besides a ball gown Rin had bought for prom the year before and couldn't let go of, and a mint green sundress that reached mid-thigh, she really didn't have stuff to wear to a party. Still, she ended up choosing the sundress and a white choker necklace.

"You look nice," Kagome said as she checked out her friend.

"You too," Rin said, smiling at Kagome, knowing that her roommate needed it.

The other girl wore a gold cocktail dress that left very little to the imagination. The makeup Kagome had chosen was sky blue eye shadow, black mascara and eye liner, a little pink blush, and salmon colored lipstick. She looked stunning.

"Kikyo won't be able to compare," Rin said. Kagome smiled.

**AN: **Please review!


	16. More Parties

About a block away from the frat house, Rin and Kagome began to hear the band that was playing. Both cringed but continued on. About half a block away, the smells of beer, vomit, sweat, and other _activities_ reached their noses. Both looked at each other and shuddered. They continued forward though, Kagome determined to up show Kikyo, and Rin because Kagome wouldn't let her leave.

The moment they stepped through the door, they saw Miroku pinned against the wall Sango… making out with lots and lots of tongue.

It took two seconds before Inuyasha was hanging off Kagome, nipping at her neck. With wide eyes, Rin let the two of them go off to wherever they were doing.

Once more she felt out of place. What the hell was she supposed to do at a party where everyone was drunk and stripping each other out of their clothing? She saw multiple pieces of underwear thrown about, hanging off of a chairs and what not. Rin didn't even have to look at the pool to know that there were people skinny dipping, and she sure as shit didn't need to go upstairs to know that every room up their was occupied.

Leaning against the door to food pantry, Rin sighed as she looked around. Shattered beer bottles, wrappers for things Rin didn't want to name, etc. She sighed. Why on earth did Kagome make her go.

Suddenly Rin felt a nudge against her back and she shot away from the pantry door, looking like a deer in the headlights. Inside she saw Sesshōmaru staring at her, one eyebrow raised, as he sat on a laundry machine, a can of soup in between his legs with a spoon sticking out of it.

"Get in," he said and Rin complied without hesitation.


	17. Hiding

"Hiding in your pantry/laundry room?" Rin said as she got on the dryer, opposite of the twenty-year old. He closed the door quickly before pulling on the string of metal beads the lit an uncovered light. _How unattractive_, Rin thought as her eyes quickly glanced up before glancing down.

"It is better than being groped and fondled every few seconds by females or drunk males that think I'm female." Rin laughed, knowing that Sesshōmaru was telling the truth while she found it as a hilarious truth. He was a hunk, so of course he was going to be the center of an horny females attention.

"How about you?" he asked when her laughing died down. "Why are you here?"

Rin sighed, closing her eyes and hanging her head in an over exaggerated show of misery. Peeking out from underneath her lashes to see if he was buying it. All he had done was raise an eyebrow at her and probably thought she was crazy.

"Kagome made me come. We're roommates if you didn't know, and when I got into the room she was getting all dressed up and she made me too. Then she told me something about a Kikyo woman so of course I had to go to make her happy and support her. However, the moment we stepped in the door, she was all over Inuyasha. And I'm in here because this is the only place where there isn't a couple copulating or at least making out."

Sesshōmaru nodded, taking a sip of his soup. Rin leaned back against the shelves, uncomfortable with objects poking into her. Still, she'd said, better than having her virgin eyes assaulted by people doing the nasty. Then something came to mind that she had to ask.

"Do you know about the rumors?"


	18. Ravishing

Kagome pulled away from Inuyasha, gasping for breaths as he stared at her lustily. She was straddling his hips, in his room, though they were still fully clothed. Not that they would be that way for long, but she did have something she needed to do before she let her boyfriend ravish her into the wee hours of the morning.

"Where's Sesshōmaru?" she asked as his fingers went to the hem of her shirt. He stopped in his advances, glaring at the woman.

"Why?" His tone was that of irritation. That made sense, his girlfriend was looking for his half-brother after all when he was about to get some.

She shot him a glare though, so he fessed up the answer.

Kagome quickly bounced out of the room, followed by an annoyed Inuyasha who was begrudgingly curious why Kagome wanted to speak with Sesshōmaru. What did that bastard do that made Kagome put him before her own boyfriend.

Kagome opened the door to the pantry to find Sesshōmaru resting his eyes and Rin checking her email.

"Sesshōmaru, I need you to walk Rin home tonight. I'm going to be busy, and I don't want her out their alone with all those weirdos, kay?" Sesshōmaru cracked open one eye to look at Kagome but said nothing.

"I will take that as a yes. Remember my threat, and if you don't, at least remember protection." With that Kagome shut the door to the pantry, and let Inuyasha chase her back up the stairs, laughing giddily.

Still in the pantry, Sesshōmaru and Rin met eyes before Sesshōmaru shook his head and went back to resting and Rin returned to reading her email and surfing the web, trying not to scream at Kagome in her head. Pervert-san was indeed the correct name for Kagome.

**AN: **I did not forget about the question posed in the previous chapter. You'll see what I had in mind for that later on. Review please.


	19. Home

It was about two in the morning that Sesshōmaru and Rin escaped the pantry/laundry room and headed for her dorm room. Though the house still seemed alive with shouting and coupling, it had died down a bit. The smell nearly knocked Sesshōmaru out when the first stepped out of the cramped enclosure however. Rin basically dragged her classmate out of the frat house before he could function properly.

The walk back to the dorm was fine, everything went well, no creepy stalkers or homeless drunks begging for money or trying to get touchy feely with the sixteen year old.

When they got to the dorm, Rin unlocked the door and turned around to bid him farewell when he pushed her in and she found herself on her butt, adrenaline pumping.

"Hey!" she shouted at him as he went to sit down on Kagome's bed, looking around the room and ignoring Rin. She glared at him as she stood up and shut the door, going to stand before him with her arms crossed and her foot tapping against the carpet. "Care to explain mister?"

He looked up at her lazily, completely unaffected by Rin's anger. Sighing, he explained.

"I will stay here tonight. My room is certainly occupied, and even if it wasn't, my delicate sense of smell would prevent me from going within a mile of that place."

Rin screeched, shoving him backwards. His head bumped against the wall and before Rin knew it, she was being pinned with the scariest death glare in existence.

"Pervert!" she hissed at him, throwing the closest thing she could find at him. She turned bright red when it landed in his lap.

"Says the one throwing bras at me." He chuckled as he held up the lime green garment.

What god hated her?


	20. Waking Up

"Wake up," a voice hissed in her ear. Rin moaned, trying to move closer to the voice she assumed belonged to the very sensuous man in her dream. Fingers nudged her shoulders and she arched into them, biting her lip to keep another moan from escaping her mouth. "Rin," the voice said and Rin felt like she was melted at the sound of her name rolling off his tongue.

This was the best dream ever.

"Rin, wake up," the voice hissed again, shaking her harshly. Instantly shot up, hair looking like some wild animal had decided to sleep in it, and eyes wide like she had just seen something she shouldn't have. She glanced around to see where the voice came from and found Sesshōmaru looking at her like she had lost her mind. "Did you have a good dream?" he asked.

Blushing red like a tomato, Rin dove back under her soft covers, trying to recall why on earth Sesshōmaru was in her dorm room, and then what thing had she done to deserve Sesshōmaru having to wake her from a naughty dream. Then she recalled the actions of the night before, the throwing of the bra and then Sesshōmaru sleeping in Kagome's bed.

When she pulled back the covers, she found Sesshōmaru sitting at Kagome's desk eating yogurt, completely unconcerned with whatever Rin was doing. She grabbed some clothing and dashed to the bathroom to change, leaving Sesshōmaru alone in her room to muse upon what he'd heard the night before.

He had been well aware that she was dreaming last night about things not fit for a T rating, but multiple times she had moaned his name, and even though she was just sixteen, he couldn't help but smirk over being the object of her X-rated dreams.

**AN: **Please review!


	21. Music Hall

Rin had another class today after the one she had just finished, but it wasn't for another four hours so that left Rin with plenty of time on her hands, and nothing to really do. However, she didn't understand how having nothing to do ended up with her in the music hall, looking at all the display cases full of instruments used by famous musicians with names she didn't even know how to pronounce.

Rin had always had an interest in music, particularly violin music but nothing had ever come of that interest, she'd always been too busy studying to busy herself with an instrument. She'd wanted to though, even begged her parents when she was seven years old to enroll her in violin classes. They hadn't though, valuing her education above her interests. Perhaps it was good that they hadn't, she probably wouldn't have gotten very far before her she was shipped off to an orphanage after her parents died.

Sighing, the sixteen year old stared wistfully at the instruments before heading for the exit. She'd grab some coffee or something, looking at the violins was making her sad and she didn't want to start balling in the middle of public for no apparent reason.

On her way out, the sound of cello reached her ears. Whoever was playing, was brilliant, a master at the instrument. Never a fan of cello music, Rin could honestly say that whoever was playing was a genius when it came to the strings.

Tip-toeing over to where she heard the sound originating from, she peeked through the crack in the door.

The cello was the first thing she noticed. Then she noticed the person, or rather the person's hair color. Silver. Silver hair that was a couple inches away from the floor. Sesshōmaru.

**AN: **Now we get to learn a little bit about Sesshomaru and his past


	22. Secrets

The music stopped, and before anything happened, Rin was out the door and on her way to a coffee shop. She didn't know why she didn't want him to know that she'd seen him playing, or that she'd enjoyed it, but she didn't want to so she wasn't going to let him know.

However, as she made her order for a coffee, she had to wonder. Why hadn't anyone mentioned his musical abilities? Why hadn't he? Why was he in math and art if he was such a cello prodigy? She didn't get it, and the only semi-logical idea she could come up with was that he had some twin brother that looked exactly the same that no one had mentioned.

Sitting down with her coffee, she looked at the window to people passing by, chatting on phones or to each other. It didn't look like she had been followed, though why he'd follow her, she didn't understand. Rin really didn't understand her thoughts in that moment, why she cared at all or why this was such a big deal. Whatever, she kept chanting in her mind.

Except it wasn't whatever.

When she stepped foot into her next class, she sat down next to Sesshōmaru, and while they spoke of unimportant things or listened to the teacher, her eyes kept flicking to his hands. This was the first time she noticed the calluses and the bandages on them. How blind had she been? And when she looked to his notes, she also noticed the doodles of music notes in the corners and the margin. Really, had she been that blind?

She also seemed blind to the fact Sesshōmaru was observing her intently. Her posture was that of a person keeping a secret. Though what and why, he didn't really know.


	23. Notes

_Is Sesshōmaru a musician?_ Read the little note that Rin had passed to Kagome during the class they shared that day. It was Rin's last class of the day, and the image of Sesshōmaru playing cello was still eating away at her.

_Why do you ask? _Kagome wrote back, slipping the note onto the sixteen year old's desk. Rin didn't look until the old teacher had his back to them, and then she read it, biting her lip to hold back a groan.

_Is he or is he not? _She shot back.

Kagome quickly jotted something down and handed the piece of paper back to Rin, and in turn, the girl quickly gobbled down the words.

_He was. Sesshōmaru's mother won custody of him when he was twelve and they moved to Sapporo. While away, he quit. His father won back custody of him four years later when he was sixteen because the crazy bitch was caught with illegally possessing guns. During that time, she'd made him cut off all contact with the outside world and made him stop playing. She was __**crazy**__. But as far as I know, he stopped all together and hasn't touched a piano since. Why?_

Rin let the knowledge sink in, crumpling up the paper and putting it in her pocket. She tried to push away the thoughts of Sesshōmaru's mother to focus on the other tidbit.

Piano.

She caught Sesshōmaru playing a cello though, not a piano. Had he changed instruments? Had it just been an illusion? Shaking her head, Rin tuned back into the lesson. She'd think about Sesshōmaru and his crazy past later. Right now, she had way more important things to do then ponder pianos and cellos, and the scars of a twenty year old man who she found insanely attractive.

**AN: **I just need to say this as Fish Out of Water is m first story not only to surpass fifty reviews... but to surpass one-hundred. Thank you Ink on a Page for being reviewer number one-hundred. All of your reviews mean a lot to me, so thank you for taking the time out of your day to review and know that I love each and every review. Thank you all so much, and of course, please review this chapter and the many to follow afterwards.


	24. Waking the Beast

After class was over, she found herself in front of the frat house. She knew Sesshōmaru was there, he always went home after his classes were done and his classes were over for the day, that she knew for sure as well. Rin wanted to talk to him, though about what she didn't know why. Was it the cello she'd seen him playing earlier? The piano he used to play? His past and, well, his mother? Rin didn't know what she wanted to say to him, she just wanted to say something.

Walking up the steps to the building she'd been in just the night before, Rin knocked on the door. A minute or so passed before Sesshōmaru opened the door, wearing pajamas and his hair looking a mess. Had he been sleeping?

"Do you need something?" he asked, obviously irritated. Rin gulped, no longer having the courage to even open her mouth. He saw her hesitation and sighed, opening the door wider for her to step in.

"Um… I'm sorry for w-waking you."

Sesshōmaru glanced at her like she was out of her mind before making his way over to the couch and plopping down on it. Rin assumed that the other boys were out still since they weren't anywhere in sight.

"Why did you ask about rumors last night?" he asked, breaking the ice. "Obviously I had known of them, all of them ranging from me banging sixteen year old girls to six year old boys."

Rin cringed.

"Why were you sleeping?" she asked, not commenting about the rumors.

"Because, contrary to what you thought, I got zero sleep yesterday and as a living being, sleep is important to my well-being."

"Oh."

Rin sat down on the couch beside him, nervous as ever. She really shouldn't have come.


	25. Mother

"Tell me, what is eating at you little girl." Sesshōmaru watched as Rin fidgeted, uncomfortable with being in here after knowing she had disturbed his beauty sleep. Sighing, the twenty-year old shook his head and shot Rin a glare.

"Then get out if you don't have anything to say. I have no desire to baby-sit."

Rin gulped, knowing that she needed to say this no matter what. After what Kagome had told her about earlier, it wouldn't be right just to pretend she didn't know. He was hiding it because it hurt, so she would be the one to heal the scars. Well, that sounded all good and romantic but she had no clue if he'd let her in or push her in the pool outside.

"Kagome told me about your past and I−"

While she had been hesitating, Sesshōmaru had reached for a can of soda and as soon as she had said her words, the can had crinkled in his hand.

"Are you here to pity me?" he asked bluntly, glaring at Rin. Rin could've sworn that his eyes were tinted red but that was impossible.

"No, I swear I'm not," she said hurriedly. Damn, this wasn't starting off on the right foot. She wanted this to be a good conversation and here he was, so angry at her that his eyes were impossibly red!

"Then what about my mother do you want to know? That she was off her mental rocker? That she was so disturbed after my father broke things off that she convinced herself that I was my father? That she _raped_ me?"

Rin stared at Sesshōmaru with large brown eyes as he glared at her. The last question he asked her echoed in her mind. This was nothing like what she expected to happen.

**AN: **So yeah... Sesshomaru has lots and lots of baggage.


	26. Here to Heal

"I-I-I d-d-didn't kn-know…" Rin managed to stutter. She must've looked like a fool, and she felt like a fool. She care here to ask him about a painful subject like she was asking what his favorite flower was without even thinking about how raw Sesshōmaru's wounds might've been. Like rubbing salt in a wound, at least, that was what she felt like she was doing and that was not a good feeling.

"No, of course you didn't know," he sneered. "I don't let people in close enough for them to know. Maybe you should feel flattered that I told you all about my painful past. Does it make you want to heal me? To play the hero for the broken man?"

She shook her head, to stunned for words at the sudden turn of the conversation.

"When you came here, did you want to heal me?"

She didn't know in this moment whether to tell the truth or lie. How would he react if she said the truth? Would he be even more furious then he was now, perhaps even ready to rip her head off over stupid fantasies.

But she nodded anyways. And in return, if his glare could kill, she'd be dead a million times over.

"Get out."

But Rin didn't. She stayed there, waiting for him to calm a little more. He was mad, furious, burning with rage even, but Rin was not the type of person to flee in the face of something scary. It wasn't like he could kill her.

"Get out!" Sesshōmaru yelled again. She shook her head slightly. "Now!" he ordered once more. She said nothing, just stared him down. He would not chase her off, she wasn't scared that easy.

And when his outburst was done, she was there to comfort him.


	27. Interlude

Kagome hadn't known where Rin had run off to after class, but it was nine o'clock at night at there was still not a sight nor a hair of Rin anywhere. The older woman was concerned for her roommates safety, wondering if maybe she'd been kidnapped or hurt somewhere and she couldn't call out for help or there was no one to hear her if she called out.

Kagome knew she needed to go out and find Rin, but she was also had common sense and knew that it might not be smart to go out into the unknown without someone else. So, Kagome had decided that she was going to go to the frat house and get the boys… or at least Sesshōmaru, Inuyasha, and Shippo. Sesshōmaru because duh! Inuyasha because he was her boyfriend, and Shippo because the red-haired college student had a huge crush on Rin.

It didn't take her long to get to the frat house, and when she got there, no one answered the door. Eyebrows knitted together in confusion, she fished out her key and went inside. Everything was quiet and it didn't smell like booze.

First thing her eyes landed on were Kohaku and Shippo making lots and lots of ramen. Then she noticed Inuyasha and Miroku quietly arm wrestling in the dining room. Lastly she noticed Hojo and Koga on the couch reading.

Had Hell frozen over or something?

"If you're looking for Rin," Shippo said silently, "she's upstairs with Sesshōmaru sleeping with his head in her lap. Don't know why, didn't ask, I just know she probably isn't leaving. There's enough ramen for you though so don't worry."

Kagome nodded, confused and what was going on but just accepting that hey, at least Rin wasn't dead in a parking lot somewhere.

**AN: **Kind of an interlude here, but more SessRin to follow. Please review!


	28. G'morning

When Rin awoke in the morning, she instantly realized she was not in her own bed, though she also realized shed been asleep in this bed before. Second thing she noticed was that she was still wearing clothing… which of course was a very good thing to realize and something that made Rin sigh with relief. Third thing she noticed was that she was being held by two very muscular arms. That was when she recalled the day before and suddenly found herself confused.

Confused over what, one might ask. Quite simple actually, was she supposed to find being in his arms comforting or should she have been fearing for her life. Even if Sesshōmaru had all but collapsed into her lap the day before, it didn't mean he wasn't still angry that she brought up his mother and the unsavory memories that came with said woman.

She didn't have any classes that day at least, so she wasn't concerned about being late or showing up where the exact same thing as the day before just except her hair being much messier than the day before.

When Rin felt Sesshōmaru shift and moan, she decided she had to say something.

"G'morning," was the first thing out of her mouth. Man, she groaned internally, that sounded like she was greeting someone after a one-night stand. Not good, not good...

"Why are you in my bed?" he asked. She wondered if she'd forgotten what had happened the day prior. "You're not naked, that's for sure."

Great, maybe Sesshōmaru deserved the title of pervert-san instead of Kagome.

"I don't know," was all she found she could say to answer him. She felt his arms unwrap from around her waist and for some reason she couldn't be more thrilled not to be touching Sesshōmaru.


	29. Apologies

It was breakfast when she decided she needed to say something about the day before and his confession. Of course, they were alone in the frat house as everyone else seemed to have classes besides them so it was probably the best time for her to say something.

"I won't tell anyone," she blurted out as she put her plate under the hot running water. Sesshōmaru's hands stilled in the middle of putting his cereal bowl in the dishwasher. Rin bit her lip, hoping he wouldn't react as he did yesterday.

"I've never told anyone," was all he said before continuing on and acting as if they hadn't just mentioned yesterday. She nodded, happy that he wasn't going blow up on her.

She followed him into the living room where he sat on the floor in front of the couch and she sat in one of the chairs. He turned on the TV but Rin hardly paid attention to what it was saying.

"I'm sorry," he said out of the blue as Rin had just been starting to get into the soap opera. Her brown eyes immediately flicked to him, and she noted that even if he had something, he hadn't moved in inch. For a moment she wrote it off as her hearing things.

"For getting angry yesterday," he continued. This time she caught his lips moving. "I lost control, that was all. As you can guess probably, my mother is a sore subject."

"It's alright," she found herself saying. "You don't have to talk about. I just brought it up as an introductory to the fact I saw you in the music room the yesterday playing a cello."

He laughed. Rin stared at him in surprise. Sesshōmaru could laugh? All she'd heard before were chuckles. Rin laughed too.


	30. Decisions

"You should've just mentioned the cello if that was what you wanted to talk about," he said wisely. Rin laughed at that, even though it wasn't really funny. Honestly, she was laughing at how _right_ that statement was. Bringing up his mother just to talk about him playing that cello had been very, very stupid on her part.

"Absolutely right there."

"I wouldn't be Sesshōmaru if I wasn't absolutely right, Rin. That's just the perks having an IQ of one-hundred seventy-three."

Rin shot Sesshōmaru a playful glare. One moment they're on the extremely touchy subject of his mother and the next he's boasting about his IQ. Rin couldn't help but stick her tongue out at him.

"Well Mr. Smarty-pants, if you're so smart what is 1,589,649 plus 9637 minus 8,524,196 divided by 742 minus 9?"

It took him three seconds to reply.

"-9341.762803234501."

Rin clamored for a calculator as Sesshōmaru smirked at her. She quickly entered in the numbers and then got the same answer as Sesshōmaru had said.

"That's not fair!" she argued as Sesshōmaru chuckled. Rin glared at him and mumbled the following under her breath: "Smartass."

"Yes I am smart and I am an asshole. What is your excuse for not knowing Ms. Scholarship Rin?"

Rin hmphed, crossing her arms over chest and looking away. That just caused Sesshōmaru to chuckle more. Even if she was the one being made fun of her, she liked this conversation a whole lot more than the one about his mother. It was then and there that Rin decided she would never mention Sesshōmaru's mother again, not to him or to Kagome or to anyone else. That was in the past, and she cared about Sesshōmaru to much to force him to relive that nonsense even within his own smart mind.


	31. Origins

"So me and Inuyasha are going out to Chinese tonight and we want to go on a double date," Kagome began, sitting on the edge of her desk as Rin sat cross-legged on her bed, stuffing her face with rice.

"Cool," was all Rin said in between bites of rice. While Rin would never say it aloud, she went absolutely nuts when it came to rice.

"Well Inuyasha and I wanted to go on a double date but Sango doesn't like Chinese food and Miroku would only grope the waitresses which would get us kicked out and all so I was thinking that you and Sesshōmaru should tag alone."

Rin stopped eating her rice in favor of glaring at Kagome. Kagome shot Rin a grin.

"Who says I like Chinese food?"

"Well Tsuda-Zháo Rin, daughter of Tsuda Ichiro and Zháo Lián Huā, I just thought being half-Chinese would mean you liked Chinese food," said Kagome slyly. "And you even have clothing to wear, two cheongsams correct?"

Rin's glare narrowed as she stopped eating her rice.

"How did you know my full surname, and my parent's names?" she asked icily. Kagome laughed as her friend tried to sound scary, not letting Rin know that she was slightly afraid for her life.

"You left your birth certificate on your desk the other day and I just happened to peek at it. Why didn't you tell me you were half-Chinese?"

Rin sighed, realizing that while pointing out to Kagome that it was rude to look at her birth certificate, it would be a pointless argument.

"You realize most people think the Chinese are backwards fools blinded by Communism, right?" It was true.

"Oh… that's right. Don't worry," Kagome said, waving her hand. "I don't think that way nor does Sesshōmaru or anyone else."

**AN: **From my research, teens and kids in Japan do think of the Chinese as backwards Commies. They do not have high opinions of the Chinese so Rin's fears aren't unnecessary.


	32. Waiting

Rin found herself wearing the purple and white cheongsam, or qi pao because Rin really didn't know the difference between them, that her mother had worn when she met Rin's father. Her mother, Zháo Lián Huā, had always told Rin that if Rin ever wore this dress on a date, she better be marrying the man. Whether or not that was what the future held in store for Rin and Sesshōmaru, she really didn't know, but she did know that she wouldn't mind marrying Sesshōmaru one day. She also knew that Kagome wouldn't let her get away with going out for Chinese and not wearing one of the two cheongsams in her closet. Better this one then her mother's red wedding cheongsam.

"Sesshōmaru is going to be paying more attention to you than the food," Kagome said as they waited for Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha to arrive. "You now, Sesshōmaru hates going on dates. He's always nervous and not very talkative. Talk to him, be friendly and open. Things will be perfect."

Rin rolled her eyes, watching excitedly as Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha came into sight.

"Oh, by the way," Kagome began, "I probably won't make it back to the dorm tonight so if that happens, make sure Sesshōmaru walks you home. There is protection in the top drawer of my dresser. Make sure you use it if things get steamy." Kagome winked at Rin just as Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha arrived.

Rin sighed, shaking her head as she turned her attention to her date, a bright, beaming smile on her face. Sesshōmaru seemed surprised by her attire… and a bit stunned. Rin blushed under his intense gaze, happy that he liked the dress.

"It was my mothers."

"Well, your mother had impeccable taste," said her incredibly handsome and charming date. Rin grinned.

**AN: **Pervert-san strikes again! Just thought I should acknowledge that since I didn't within the contents of the story.


	33. Cousin

They went to a local Chinese restaurant, each couple excited to spend time together. Even if Rin and Sesshōmaru were on the date just to make Kagome and Inuyasha happy, it didn't mean that they couldn't enjoy themselves and treat it as an outing between to very good friends. They hadn't known each other for even a month yet she knew his deepest, darkest secret, and Rin would trust Sesshōmaru with her life.

When the server came to ask them if they wanted tea, and if they wanted soup, Rin stared at the man in astonishment.

"Cousin Byakuya?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth before he even managed to ask them what they wanted. The man, the person she'd recognized as the cousin she hadn't seen since before her parent's deaths, looked at her in surprise before a Cheshire Cat-like grin spread across his very beautiful face.

"Rin!" he exclaimed excitedly as Rin stood to give him a hug. The other college students looked at the events, curious and confused.

"Oh yeah," Rin said as she remember the double date she was on. "Byakuya, this is Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sesshōmaru. We're all in college together."

Byakuya chuckled.

"Last time I checked, my cousin was sixteen years old. More importantly though, mind if I steal Sesshōmaru-kun from you?"

Rin found herself blushing, lightly punching her long lost, now found, cousin in the arm.

"It's called being smart and skipping grades, not that you would know anything about that." She decided to ignore the implication that Sesshōmaru was hers romantically. They weren't like that, even if she wouldn't mind being that way.

Wait…

"Since when are you gay?"

"Since never," he replied with a raised eyebrow. "Swinging goes both ways. Anyways, do you want some tea or not?

**AN: **Even though this is SessRin, it should totally be noted that I ship Byakuya x Sesshomaru.


End file.
